Age range

Website: www.diversityworks.org

Mission/Goals: DiversityWorks cultivates youth empowerment, challenges attitudes, promotes social change, and affirms diversity. It accomplishes this mission through community building, consciousness-raising, skill building, and taking action. In doing so, DiversityWorks creates opportunities for youth to think critically, express themselves, and become leaders in dismantling oppression.

Notes: DiversityWorks hosts 6 programs targeting young people. Programs take the following approach: Utilizing leadership development, youth development, and anti-oppression best practices, DiversityWorks’ programs are designed to 1) increase people’s understanding of themselves, others, and of social justice issues that impact their lives; 2) help young people become leaders in their own communities; and 3) help create safe communities that are free of discrimination. The Core Pillars of the organization are: 1) Community Building; 2) Consciousness-Raising; 3) Skill Building; and 4) Taking Action.

Source(s): www.guidestar.org; www.diversityworks.org

Diversity

Works’ target age group is 15-20 year olds. Young people between the ages of 12-24 have been participants in the program.

Type of Evaluation: Outcomes Monitoring.

Note: This evaluation examined The Works program, which is a year-long comprehensive training program that brings together a diverse group of 25-30 young people to dialogue about social justice issues and to work to improve their communities. The Works incorporates an intensive summer program, followed by a year of structured mentoring to help youth create and implement an action plan aimed at promoting justice in their communities.

Objective: To document the ways in which participants may be changed by their experiences with The Works.

Impact/Outcomes: Process
findings: Participants rated their satisfaction
with various aspects of the program on a
scale of 1-10, with 10 indicating high
satisfaction. Mean scores ranged from 6.8
(for service-learning placements) to 9.5 (for
location of The Works). Fifteen of 24
participants indicated that they would like to
stay involved with the program, while 9 were
unsure. Twenty-two of 24 participants
indicated that they would recommend the
program to friends, while 2 were not sure. Outcome findings: 1) Changes in knowledge and attitudes: Most participants said that the program helped them to learn about diversity (mean score of 8.8 on a scale of 1-10). 2) Changes in behavior: Behavioral changes noted by participants in the focus groups included the following: less stereotyping; walking away rather than acting in violent manners in response to anger; using less derogatory and more sensitive terminology about groups of people; using less "bad" language; serving more as a mentor and teacher to others; eating less fast food or not eating it at all; and not shopping at stores associated with sweatshop labor. Participants reported being more aware of the implications of their choices and claimed to be more likely to point out sexism, racism, homophobia, and other forms of oppression. Participants also reported learning about "action tools" (e.g., music, poetry, writing, public speaking, and acting) to make positive social changes. All focus group participants reported having more tools to use to promote positive
change as a result of The Works.